And it Was a Love Story
by theraggles
Summary: During a storm, Max decides to tell the flock a story. The problem is, she doesn't have one. Fang comes to her rescue and spins an… odd tale. Maximum Ride c James Patterson. Formerly called To Save The World.
1. The Rescue

_A/N: Hey y'all! Second fanfic, don't I feel accomplished. I wrote Fang's story and a little bit of the actual stuff. The rest is written by Bookaholic711. The majority of this chapter was written by her, but upcoming chapters are going to be by me mostly. Going to be in Max's point of view, but the story will be told by Fang. You don't have to review, but I would appreciate it and constructive criticism would improve my writing loads. If you have any suggestions for a title, send a message or review! Happy reading. ~Raggles_

_Hey everyone! Bookaholic711 here. Raggles and I are co-writing this, although the majority of the story will be her writing, anything that is actually happening will be written by me. Just wanted to let you know and happy reading people!_

_Neither theraggles or Bookaholic711 own Maximum Ride, in case being posted on Fan Fiction just wasn't obvious enough for you._

***

Well crap. Cue awkwardness.

Let's just say it was raining. And I mean really freaking rain. The kind of rain that just makes you want to hide under the covers and ignore the world.

The Flock and I were at Mom's for a little while, but she was away for the weekend. She'd left Ella with us and, naturally, Fang and I were in charge.

What we hadn't anticipated was the huge storm that was rolling in. Now don't get me wrong, we got some pretty big storms while we were living in Colorado. But none like this one. The wind blew so strongly that trees were being knocked down, the power was out, and the rain was pouring down so hard that it was painful to walk outside.

It was about 8:00 in the evening, and I had a problem. There was nothing to do. I mean I have a bunch of kids lying around with **nothing to do**. _And_ the kids were pretty freaked about the storm, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't worrying me. I mean, freaking trees were falling over! That's not normal, is it?

So we were all sitting in Mom's living room, doing a grand total of nothing. I was squashed between Gazzy and Nudge, with Angel on my lap, all terrified. Iggy and Ella sat on another couch playing Sticks, which I wasn't quite sure how Iggy was doing, but he didn't seem to be cheating, so that wasn't a problem. Total, at the first lightning strike, had run straight up the stairs and presumably under Angel's bed. I guess thunderstorms and dogs don't mix. Who woulda thunk?

But did you notice who was missing?

Yes, the royal prince himself. I had absolutely no idea where he was, or even if he was in the house at all.

A huge crack of thunder had sounded, and the kids edged closer to me. Angel pressed her face into my shoulder. "I'm scared, Max."

I had held back a sigh, knowing that it would just make her feel bad. I had to do something about these kids.

"I know, Ange. But it's okay. It's just a thunderstorm, and it'll pass. Why don't you go to bed?"

"I don't think I can sleep."

Suddenly, I had had a fantastic idea. Something I hadn't done in years, but I hoped it would take the kids' minds off of the storm.

"Well, why don't we all go upstairs?" I had suggested. "I'll tell you guys a story."

Iggy perked up. "Max? Tell a story? Oh this is going to be good. Do we have an invitation?" he said indicating to Ella and himself.

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Well, looking back, there were a lot of reasons why not, but unfortunately, I hadn't thought of them at the time.

And so Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Ella, Iggy and I had made our way upstairs. We stationed ourselves in the room Nudge and Angel were sharing, because I figured they would probably fall asleep.

Angel, Gazzy and Nudge squeezed onto one bed, with Gazzy on the outside and Angel smoshed in the middle. Iggy and Ella sat on the other, leaning against the wall. Everyone looked at me expectantly.

Oops. Time to come up with an actually story.

"Well?" Iggy had asked impatiently. "Any day now is good."

I had cleared my throat.

"Once upon a time," I said, "in a land far, far away, there were two kids."

"Bird kids?" Angel asked.

"Of course," I replied. Might as well shake things up a bit. "Anyway, there were two bird kids, a boy and a girl."

"What were their names?" Angel interrupted again.

Iggy stifled his laughter and said, sounding very serious, "Max and Fang."

"Oh, shut up," I said. "I'm telling the story. Their names were—"

"Max and Fang," a voice said.

I turned to tell Iggy to shut up again, until I realized that it wasn't him talking. I whipped around.

A dripping wet Fang stood in the doorway. His soaking hair fell into his eyes, and his trademark smirk sat on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"Their names were Max and Fang," Fang replied.

Iggy snickered again. "And it was a love story."

So, welcome to now. Cue the awkwardness. Time to go over possible reactions. 1) No response. 2) Screw the Flock; wrap my arms around Fang's neck and kiss the hell out of him. 3) Roll my eyes and continue the story like Iggy hadn't spoken.

Truth be told, I hadn't actually figured out all the confusing feelings I had about Fang. He was like a brother, but recently, well, the figurative fecal matter was starting to hit the figurative fan, and I was starting to feel some other stuff.

But now wasn't the time to contemplate my heart. Now was the time to respond before Iggy got any ideas. In snap judgment, I chose option 3) Roll my eyes and continue the story like Iggy hadn't spoken.

"So anyway the two bird kids in the land far, far away were going for an adventure, to a mysterious castle. They were just taking off when…"

A huge crack of thunder rolled across the sky, and lightning flashed in the window. Angel and Nudge held tightly to each other, Gazzy tried to look strong, but I even saw Ella jump and grab Iggy's arm.

"Hey, it's okay guys," I said, going over and putting my arms around Gazzy. It's just thunder."

Another horrible boom ripped through the night, and Angel burst into tears. Nudge moved closer to her, freaked out, and Gazzy buried his head in my shoulder. Iggy wrapped his arm around Ella, who looked sufficiently scared.

I didn't quite know what to do. The fear of thunder is irrational, but even I was getting a little freaked by it. I looked up at Fang, who was just standing there, staring at us, for help.

To my surprise, he complied. Squatting down beside the bed, his hand on blanket next to Gazzy's leg, he picked up the story. "They were just taking off when The Evil Bird Kid came down and swooped up into the sky all of Max and Fang's supplies clutched in his arms.

"'No!' Fang yelled. They needed those supplies, if they were going to go on their adventure. They stared off after him as he flew South.

"Max and Fang knew exactly where the EBK was going: the same place as they were. Of course everyone in Flockland knew that off in the far south, there was a beautiful village, called Mesa that was home to a very special artifact. It was called The World and supposedly could control the entire world's environment. In the wrong hands, every plant would wither and the air would become gross and polluted.

"Max had been born to become The World's next keeper, the one person to keep The World from harm. This was her destiny, her job. The EBK needed to be stopped. So it was up to Max and Fang to save The World."


	2. Fang's Tale

_A/N: Hello fellow fanfictioners! Welcome to the second chapter of "And it was a Love Story." Now, as you hopefully know, this story is being co-written by Raggles (obviously) and myself (Bookaholic711). Raggles is writing all of the story stuff and the stuff that's actually happening is written by yours truly. _

_Both of us would like to apologize for the wait. It's been ages, we know, but we're very busy people, both of us are still in High School and between state testing and homework, there hasn't been much time. However, with the school year winding down, updates should be coming more. _

_Disclaimer: Raggles and Bookaholic711 are 14 year old girls. Is James Patterson a 14 year girl? Hell, I certainly hope not. Hopefully you get the picture. We don't own anything. Thank you, good night, and good luck. ~theraggles & Bookaholic711_

Fang had paused for effect. The room was silent. He hadn't said much, but we were all on the edge of our seats, waiting for more. Apparently, at the time, the irony of Fang telling a story went right over my head, but I got it in his silence. Before I had a change to crack a joke, somebody spoke up.

"Well, go on," Iggy said impatiently. "Actually, you know what, wait! Who is this EBK anyway? He sounds like a royal douche, first class."

"Iggy! Language," I said attempting to sound stern. Truth be told, I didn't mind Iggy swearing. It wasn't like Fang and I didn't swear all the time. But you had to pick your battles, and that was not a fight I was going to have with Angel. I turned my focus back to Fang, who had opened his mouth to speak again.

"The EBK had soared off into the distance toward Mesa, so Max and Fang spread their beautiful wings, took a running start and flew into the air. But they got hungry and they had no food to eat, so they set up camp in a cave. Their dinner consisted of desert rat and some oth–"

"Wait, why didn't Max just use her super speed to catch up with the EBK?" Angel asked, for once the voice of reason.

"Well, sweetie," I started. "It's just a story…"

"She wanted to stay with Fang," Iggy blurted out. "And it was a love story!"

I thought I was going to jump on him and kill him, but decided that maybe that wasn't the best way to prove him wrong. "Thank you for that beautiful interruption, Iggy, but why must you insist that it is a love story?" I asked.

Before Iggy could answer, or ever think about some excuse for his outrageously misplaced outburst, Fang continued. "As I was saying, Max and Fang stopped for the night. Then they headed towards the south. Once they came to the town of Mesa, they thought things would be all downhill from there, but of course they were wrong. When they arrived, the whole village was is chaos, people running screaming and houses on fire. The EBK was circling the town, laughing manically. When he felt something being thrown at him, he stopped and listened.

"'Hey! Stay away from this village,' Max yelled. She took it upon herself to protect anything she came into contact with. The EBK sneered.

"'I will leave this wimpy town alone; only because I have better things to do than terrorize such a pathetic community.' He left. Ella, a young villager, came up to them thanking them.

"'You saved our village! We cannot thank you enough! Please, accept some sort of gift from us,' she said.

"Max and Fang asked for directions to the World. They explained Max's destiny and Ella was very understanding. She told them that the World was in cave on the outskirts of Mesa. It was well guarded and would take a lot to get past the distractions. Ella was kind and let them stay in her house for the night. It was warm and she made them chocolate chip cookies. It was heaven.

"Apparently, her mother was the current keeper, so she knew how to get there and what kind of obstacles would be in the way. There were tons. First you had the monster. It was a great beast that could emit such a potent odor, that anyone who got near it would run away screaming. That would be hard to get by, because even if they could somehow get around the stench, it was still a ferocious and fearsome beast that could overcome any opponent."

"WAIT!" Gazzy yelled. "Hold up. Is that... is that supposed to be me?" He smiled, and I had a bad feeling about this. "YES!" He screamed, jumping up onto the bed and pumping his fist. "YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!" He jumped in a circle, a huge maniacal grin on his face.

"Hear that, Ig? I'm FEARSOME! FEAR ME!"

At this point, Gazzy received the glare of doom from me and a very amused, but not necessarily good, expression from Fang. He shut up surprisingly quickly, and Fang continued.

"The second opponent would require more brain power. He was a wise man, and the father of many adopted children. He had been good once, aiding in the protection of the World, personally, but he betrayed the World and its last keeper. He was exiled soon after such treason, but when he shielded the World with his own body, redeeming himself. But he could only be one of the obstacles in front of the World's chamber, never again to protect it in such close proximity. Ella told Max and Fang that he would try to outwit you by telling riddles and switching your drinks. She told them to call him Jeb and they would have to be careful because he is a clever and conniving man, not afraid to use his wit cruelly.

"The last and final challenge would be the most difficult. It was a long and mysterious maze that was called the School. Not only was it almost impossible to get through, but it was patrolled by men and women in long white coats, who were called just that. Whitecoats. They appeared as just simple scientists, but really they were equipped with anything from tasers to weird dog experiments called Erasers. Ella warned them that erasers were menacing and vicious, just as the Whitecoats created them. And the Whitecoats themselves were just as bad. They would capture you, if they could, and if they did, they would put you in a dog crate and take blood samples and make you test the new School mazes.

"But these are all precautions to prevent anyone from messing with the World. It is so important that it needs to be in constant watch all the time. Dr. Martinez would be retiring soon, and Ella was grateful that Max would give her mother back to her.

"Then almost as an afterthought, she tells them:

"'You can't fly over the challenges; when you complete each one, the opponent will give you a souvenir. When you finally get to the entrance of the World's home, you will need all the souvenirs to gain entrance.'

"It made Max and Fang smile when she said 'when you complete each one' not 'if'."


	3. We Meet The Ferocious Beast

_A/N: __SO SO SO SO__ SORRY FOR THE WAIT! Sophomore year apparently is much more time consuming than I thought possible. And I was in Hawaii for a month and I couldn't write on my uncle's computer. The only reason I'm doing this now, is PULL. Yep PULL: Push UR Limits and Learn. So here I am on Fiction Friday ACTUALLY WRITING. GASP! PULL is a program invented by my very bestest friend, Bookaholic711 at .net/u/2125596/Bookaholic711. PULL is great, a really cool way to help people write and improve. I love you Sofi. PULL CAN BE FOUND AT .net/community/Project_PULL/78378/99/0/1/. Any Fandom or writing style is welcome. _

_So again: JEEBUS, sorry for the wait._

_**Disclaimer: Neither the Raggles nor Bookaholic711 owns Maximum Ride. That was formerly James Patterson's privilege and is now his burden to bear._

All together now. One, two three, 'aw.' Okay, seriously, who would have thought Fang would say something like that? When and not if? So not a Fang thing to do. It was actually really cute.

Not that I think Fang is cute or anything. I'm saying the action was cute. The saying was cute. The… you know what? Forget it.

Fang was silent only for a second. "Max and Fang spent the night at Ella's house, indulging in chocolate chip cookies and her great Mexican cooking. The next day they set off. Ella directed them towards the World's temple.

"Before they could go anywhere, though, there was a great cloud of dust. Erupting from the mist was a beautiful angel. She floated up to them and landed gracefully on the ground.

"She introduced herself as Angel.

"'I am your guardian angel,' she explained. 'All heroes that embark on such dangerous quests need a guardian angel to guide them and give advice.'"

Real life Angel giggled slightly then leaned forward and threw her arms around Fang's neck. He carefully picked her up off the bed and sat her in his lap, where she curled up against him.

"They set off and it soon became apparent that Angel would only be there when they needed her.

"They traveled long and hard for many miles until finally they came to a great opening in a rock wall. There was a monster guarding the entrance. It could only be one thing: the ferocious beast.

"It was sixty feet tall with green scaly skin and sickly looking red spots. He had many menacing spikes jutting from his spine down to his tail and covering the back of his feet. His talons and teeth were sharp, and his lower canines were exposed due to his under bite. Its eyes were a piercing red that scared the shi–crud out of Max and Fang.

"They started towards the beast seeing that it was distracted by something. Then Fang suddenly yelled:

"'It's the EBK!'

"And Max saw that it was, indeed, the EBK. She was intent on a revenge for being attacking Ella's town, but Fang held her back telling her not to be reckless, because she needed to defeat the great beast and save the World. She calmed down, knowing deep down Fang was right."

"Aw, love," said Iggy.

Okay, that was it. That was one inappropriate comment too many (although really it was too many before he even made the first one). "Iggy," I said slowly. "If you do not shut up right now-"

But I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence. While I was trying to figure out how to tactfully (er… not so tactfully) maneuver my way out of the situation, Fang gave up.

"Screw it," he muttered. He reached behind him and grabbed a metal can full of pencils off of the desk. Within seconds it was flying at Iggy's head.

"OW!" Iggy yelled. "What the hell Fang?"

"Iggy. Shut. Up."

"I didn't do anything!" Iggy protested, a look of innocence that was quickly deteriorating into laughing coloring his features. "All I said was…"

"We all know what you said, moron," I cut in. "Now shut up and let Fang finish."

"Yeah," Fang said, "Let Fang finish."

Did he really just refer to himself in the third person? That was sexy as hel- I mean, God, nothing good could come of this. Referring to yourself in third person made you a conceited narcissistic idiot. You see celebrities and sports stars doing it all the time. Max hates that.

"Max shot up in the air and aimed herself towards the great beast. She got within ten feet of it before the stench hit her. The beast had noticed them and turned around, releasing its odor. It was basically like being hit with a truck full of skunks that were soaked in bleu cheese and sweaty gym socks. She couldn't handle the extreme stink, so she slunk back to Fang's side.

"Fang had a go, too, but it ended similarly. While they were distracting the great beast, the EBK cheated and snuck past it to the next challenge. While he passed the beast, he snuck an item from its great big pocket.

"'Hey!' Max yelled when she saw the EBK inside the cave. 'That's cheating! Get back here.' He didn't listen and simply continued on his way, maniacal laughter muffled by his hand, yet amplified by the cave walls."

Ironically, Iggy had just finished tinkering with something as Fang said this and was very pleased with himself. A sound that I swear to God sounded like, "MUAHAHA," came from his mouth.

We all stared at him in shock.

Total was the only one who could speak. "Dude," he said, "what the hell?"

Iggy looked at us all (or rather… he didn't). "What? What am I doing?"

Total rolled his eyes. (Side note: Can dogs roll their eyes? Ah… the things I have to Google. Thank God for the laptop we 'bought') "Existing," he deadpanned. We all turned to look at him, and Fang save a very awkward moment by continuing the story.

"Angel suddenly reappeared at their side. Her fingers were pinching her nostrils–" there was a giggle from the corner of the room, its owner, however, was not easily identified. "Shut. Apparently, not even angels were immune to stink."

That got a good laugh.

"'Max, Fang. I have a great secret that I hope will help you. That monster is very lonely, and self-conscious of his stink. I think you should talk to him.' And with a Poof! she was gone.

"'Talk to him?' Max was outraged. 'He is a monster, a beast!'

"'I think we should try it. We can't get close to him anyway, which means we can't get past him,' Fang reasoned.

"Max finally agreed and they approached the beast together. Once they got as close as they could get, they looked up and spoke.

"'Ferocious– ah… What may we address you by? '

"He thought about for a moment, dumbfounded that–""Hey, I'm not dumb," Gazzy argued.

"Well, Gazzy, dumbfounded means he was surprised…" Fang tried to explain.

Gazzy just stuck out his lower lip.

I glared over at Fang. "Change it."

He huffed. "Fine, he was surprised that these puny humans were talking to him. They usually just poked him with tiny little toothpicks or called him names. So he was genuinely curious of these little things. He thought about it for a moment and decided:

"'Gazzy.' Fang turned to Max and shrugged as if to say, Huh, fitting.

"'Okay… Gazzy, we need your help. That Evil Bird Kid just cheated and stole one of you keys!

"He looked confused for a second, then: 'Oh! You mean these.' He held up a perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie.

"'Here,' he said. 'You can have one. You guys are the only ones who have ever even tried to be nice to me.'

"Gazzy stepped out of the way and exposed a large cave. Max and Fang thanked him, and spread their wings, but before they could take off, Gazzy warned them:

"'Watch out, I am far from the most difficult challenge.' And with that morbid thought, Max and Fang flew off into the dark abyss the Ferocious Beast, now called Gazzy, had just opened for them."


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: So I know it's been awhile since I updated, but give me some slack. High school is hard. So, it's the usual today, I wrote the story itself and Bookaholic711 wrote what's actually happening. C'est une PULL update... etc, etc. _

_Disclaimer: Well, when you wish upon a star... nope not even then. Look, if Max and Fang were actually mine... you know, I'm just gonna leave it there._

{***}

"Well, after the encounter with the Feroci–I mean Gazzy, Max and Fang don't see the EBK at all. The tunnel itself was dark and damp, but other than the occasional scurry of rats on the rocks, their only company was the dripping stalactites. They kept flying on for what felt like _forever_, until they finally saw the glowing circle of light at the end.

"Together they burst out of the cramped passage, taking deep breaths and enjoying the pure oxygen. When they looked up, they found a mysterious man standing in front of them.

"'Who are you?' Max demanded.

"'My name is Jeb, and welcome to The School.'"

"Well that was blunt," Iggy said.

"Yeah," Gazzy agreed. "If you're going to make it so obvious can't you make him a little more openly evil?"

"Like a witch cackle or something," Nudge added.

"Or a bomb," Iggy amended. "Bombs are good."

"Guys…" I began, running out of patience with the irruptions.

"My story," Fang replied. "My rules. Now shut up.

"'Welcome,' Jeb repeated, arms spreading wide and drawing their attention to where they were exactly, which was a maze. Sure enough, there were two walls on each side of them tapering off into different directions. The passages were spilt in two by another wall in the shape of a 'v'. The walls both extended upwards and out of sight.

"Max panicked–"

"Fang," I said sternly. "I don't _panic_." He rolled his eyes.

"Fine. _Curious_, Max took off, flying upwards. After many minutes though, she hadn't passed the top yet and stopped. She returned to Fang with a grim shake of her head. She glanced at Jeb.

"'Okay, so let me lay down a couple of rules. The rule is no cheating, which means no flying over any of the walls. Of course you could tell that we have taken some precautions for that already. Second, when you encounter an opponent, you must defeat them before you move on, if you don't you will not be able to move onto the next challenge. There will be certain tasks that you will have to complete. When you hit a dead end you have to turn around, you know the deal… _If _you complete the maze, you will receive a cookie and you'll be able to move onto the last challenge. Good luck.'

"Jeb disappeared just like that," Fang said, snapping his fingers to make the point, "and Max and Fang were left in silence. They glanced at each other.

"'Well,' Fang said. 'We could split up.' But then neither would know where the other was and if one found a dead end, it would be impossible to catch up. So they stuck together.

"They chose going left first, which was the right choice, because they soon came to another split in their road. They went right that time, a random guess, and continued on for many minutes without interruption. As they rounded a corner, they came face to face with a creature in a long white lab coat. It had fur covering his face and claws sprouting from its thick fingers. It brandished a scalpel in one hand and another sharp device that they supposed would be harmless in a regular Doctor's hands but looked menacing and sinister with that man in the other. It swiped with the sharp scalpel, aiming for their head and only narrowly missing Max's head when Fang pulled her down.

"'RUN!' Max screamed. They raced back the way they came, finally returning to the last turn. They had turned right the first time, but quickly ran to the left path.

"Angel poofed into existence right in front of them. 'You can't!' She insisted. 'Jeb specifically said that you have to defeat the opponent. Now go back and defeat him!'

"'Are you crazy?' Max cried out. 'We can't go back there, he'll _eat _us!'

"'But if you don't defeat him,' Angel insisted, 'you won't be able to move on and save the World.' She was gone instantly. Fang sighed and dragged Max back down the right passage. They saw the _thing _running aimlessly around, slashing his weapons through the air occasionally.

"Its dog-like nose raised in the air sniffing twice before his whole body whipped around and he bounded towards the pair. Max waited until he got there and then shot up in the air. The thing ran past her, obviously just as dumb as it looked. Its face smashed painfully into the wall of the maze, nose scrunched almost comically. Fang dove out of the way and regained his footing before the creature could reorient himself. Fang snatched one of the instruments from the floor, where the beast had dropped it in the confusion. He pulled back and swung the oversized, triangular mallet at the thing's head, striking it in the temple. It roared, rearing, it's now-bloodthirsty eyes to meeting Fang's. As it charged at Fang, Max dropped down in front of it, between it and Fang, and with strength she didn't know she had, slammed it into the wall. It fell to the ground and didn't move. Max nudged it with her toe. Nothing."

I smiled. "Yeah, teamwork!" I raised a hand to Fang. He smiled in return and slapped his hand against mine.

"You know what else requires teamwork?" Iggy asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "Kissing. And also-"

He was cut off by a very large crash that happened to come from an object slamming into the wall behind Iggy's head. There may or may not have been a pencil cup missing from the desk behind Fang, but he just continued with his story.

"The ground around it parted and swallowed it. They turned and continued down the path until they came to a dead end. They turned back and went down the other tunnel. Soon they encountered another choice. They decided that left was good idea, so they went that way. Soon, though, they tunnel started turning towards the way they came and they decided that it wasn't worth the risk, so they turned around and chose the path on the right. The path was mostly straight but it narrowed dangerously, enough so that Max and Fang worried they had chosen wrong and were about to turn back around when the passage widened into a small clearing. There was a door straight ahead and nothing else. Fang walked up and gave an experimental push. It didn't budge. He shrugged. There was a large plate on the door.

"'_What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?_' it read.

"'A riddle?' Max sighed. How cliché. 'Jeez, well, umm. There are seconds in a minute,' she offered.

"'Yeah, but there are sixty in a minute,' Fang pointed out. 'There's a minute in a minute.'

"'Yeah, but how long is a moment? Besides there are plenty of minutes in a thousand years,' Max replied.

"They had no other answer. They exchanged weak ideas, but none of them fit, nor did the door react in any way.

"'Angel?' Fang called out tentatively. 'Angel, we're kinda stuck here. Mind helping out? I mean that is your job, right? Helping us out? You're a guardian angel for go–' He was cut off by the angel's sudden appearance.

"'Gosh, it takes a minute to get here, be patient. Now what is it that you need?'

"'Well,' Max started. 'We can't solve this riddle!' Angel turned and scrutinized it for a second before turning to them once more.

"'Well, I can't tell you the answer is,' She said, placing her chin on her fist. Max and Fang both visibly wilted. 'But I can give you a hint.'

"'Look at the words themselves.' And then she was gone. They stepped up to the plate (so to speak).

"'Okay, the words themselves. So what comes once in a minute and twice in a moment?' Max asked.

"'Well,' Fang said. 'The letter 'm' does.'

"And with that, the ground trembled and the door opened to reveal a corridor. There was another one of those things. This one held a stethoscope that it had fashioned into a lasso. Its long, slobbery teeth chomped menacingly. Max ran forward to lure it out. Sure enough, its beady eyes tracked her movement and the lasso whipped out towards her. She leapt out of its way, landing perfectly and sticking her tongue out at it. Fang leapt forward knocking the lasso out of its hands and punching it _hard_. Max ran up behind it and grabbed it under its arms. She took off upwards slowly, the extra weight dragging her down. At a sufficient height, she dropped it. It landed awkwardly and the ground swallowed it up.

"There wasn't another split in the road, they found as they carried along. Instead, they came to another room. The door in this room was inscribed with a riddle, too. Max sighed.

"This one read: '_The more you take of me, the more you leave behind. What am I?_'

"Angel appeared again. 'Think of a journey. What do you take and what do you leave behind,' she said. And of course, she disappeared again.

"They thought for a moment before they both shouted out: 'Footsteps!' The door opened. This time they were presented with an open room. There was an empty archway on the other side, but Jeb stood in front of it.

"'Congrats,' he said. 'You have completed all the challenges I have presented. You are free to go on.'

"Max and Fang gave a cheer.

"'_IF _you can answer one last riddle.' They groaned in tandem. '_What fastens two people together, yet touches only one?_'

"'A wedding ring,' Fang answered immediately. Jeb nodded and moved out of the way.

"'You two are worthy. I'm rooting for you. Here,' he said, handing Fang a chocolate chip cookie. Fang nodded and took it. Together Max and Fang walked through the archway.


End file.
